Kimi Raikkonen agrees new contract with Ferrari until the end of 2018

Kimi Raikkonen has signed a new contract to remain with Ferrari next season.

Raikkonen’s current deal was due to expire at the end of the year but the Finn, who turns 38 in October, will be handed at least one more year with the Italian team following their announcement on Tuesday.

Sebastian Vettel, who leads Lewis Hamilton in the championship by 14 points, is out of contract with Ferrari at the end of the year, but is yet to confirm his whereabouts for 2018.

“Scuderia Ferrari has renewed its technical and racing agreement with Kimi Raikkonen,” the Italian constructor said in a short statement ahead of this week’s Belgian Grand Prix.

“The Finnish driver will therefore race for the Maranello team in the 2018 Formula One World Championship.”

Related Tags

Related Sections

Fernando Alonso says he is open to staying at McLaren beyond 2017

On this month’s episode of ‘The Circuit’, CNN’s Amanda Davies sits down with McLaren’s two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.

Depsite finishing sixth at the Hungarian Grand Prix last month, the Spaniard has not been able to challenge for a world title since winning the championship in 2006.

As we pass the midway point of the season, question marks remain over whether he will stay with McLaren beyond the current campaign.

He said: “I’m very open. I’m talking to McLaren, of course, because it’s my team and I think we have unfinished business together to win Formula 1… What we need [is] to be competitive, if that happens I will consider for sure to stay on and win with the car.”

With widespread speculation about the 36-year-old retiring from the sport following his formidable debut at the Indy 500 earlier this year, he insisted that he will look at another team first before making a decision on his F1 future.

Related Tags

Related Sections

Sebastian Vettel wins Hungarian GP in Ferrari one-two

Sebastian Vettel increased his drivers’ world championship lead to 14 points on Sunday when he led Kimi Raikkonen home in a dominant Ferrari one-two at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

In his 50th race for Ferrari, the four-time champion German controlled the contest from pole position in stifling heat to reel off his first win in five races since the Monaco Grand Prix.

His main title rival Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes finished fourth, after handing a podium finish back to his team-mate Valtteri Bottas on the final lap following a late switch to enable the Briton to attack the two Ferraris.

Dutchman Max Verstappen finished fifth for Red Bull after surviving an opening lap collision with his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo that saw the angry Australian forced into an early retirement.

Two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso came home sixth and recorded the fastest lap of the race for McLaren-Honda after a stirring and often remarkable drive.

Vettel, who started the day just a point ahead of Hamilton, increased his lead by another 13 after 11 of this year’s 20 races as the circus takes a now-traditional three-week European summer holiday before the Belgian Grand Prix.